Solar power in the 21st century

Solar Power in the 21st Century An essay 9/5/2010

Solar power in the 21st century
Figure [ 1 ]- Earth’s energy budget

The sun energy that arrives on the Earth everyday has been estimated to amount to roughly 180,000 TW.Over half of that energy is lost, for instance to the albedo, heat capacity and light absorbance of elements in the atmosphere, among other factors resulting in only 91,800 TW actually reaching land and water surfaces (oceans, lakes, rivers et cetera)(figure 1). That figure alone is meaningless, but when compared to the world’s current energy consumption, at 15 TW, it becomes clear that solar power has a potential unbeknownst to all other forms of energy generation. Ironically though, only a modest 0.54% of the energy consumed in the world comes from either Solar Thermal Energy - 0.5% - (STE) or Photovoltaic – at 0.04% - (PV). Meanwhile, oil and coal prices have been on the rise, especially in MEDCs – oil prices going from as little as 20$ a barrel in the 1980s, up to 115% on average nowadays and coal prices from 20$ per Ton in 2000 up to 140% per Ton in 2008 . Nuclear Energy appeared to be the perfect alternative, it being relatively cost effective in the long-run, virtually renewable and increasing accessible (research would, in time, make this form of energy generation available to developing countries), until the recent disaster in the Fukushima Power plant in Japan called into question the level of risk posed by Nuclear Power plants (something which in fact had already been similarly experienced in the 1986 incident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant). Other, non-solar, renewable sources of energy such as hydroelectric, biomass and wind energy, have flourished. However the environmental impact of those forms of energy generation has been a concern. Hydroelectric Power is arguably the most efficient out of all the renewable sources, but it has been negatively assessed in terms of the impacts it causes. Environmentally, although